Sarah Anzia, Assistant Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

Public pensions in the U.S. are underfunded by roughly $3 trillion. For decades, government officials have promised increasingly generous pension benefits to public employees and yet have failed to deliver. How did this happen, and what roles do public-sector unions and Democratic and Republican politicians play? What is the likelihood of real reform? Anzia (together with Terry Moe) researched state governments’ decisions on public pensions from 1999 to 2011.